Time Well Spent
by ALostWinchester
Summary: There's suddenly such a thing as a Wellbeing Officer at the firm. She needs to get through Harvey Specter to see Mike Ross. So how does that lead to dinner and sex? Read to find out. One Shot. Harvey x OC. (Rated T but contains slight M content)


She walked in like she was in a hurry and her pale face burned almost red around her black eyes. At first Harvey didn't see the details of her form - she had interrupted a meeting with Lewis and Jessica in Lewis' office. Jessica watched, irritation in her eyes as Harvey stood to let the intruder know she wasn't yet welcome. She didn't even glance at him. Lewis remained in his seat, shaking his head in disdain as he began to inform the woman of her intrusion. She slammed a file on the desk and the distinctive slap of importance shut everyone up.

"Sydney McGaulley, Junior Partner, that is her sick line from the hospital because she has just filed to be off work for stress. I'm trying to keep her from pressing charges, and I'm not even a goddamn lawyer." she was leaning on the table now, right into Lewis' personal space."

"Then let her, Pearson and Hardman-"

"She's not charging Pearson and Hardman, she's charging Lewis Litt. Now I get you don't like what I do here and I don't give a damn: my job isn't to tell you how to do yours, my job is to make sure your staff manage their own work life balance. Being a lawyer demands sacrifice but even the person with the highest IQ won't have the life experience to juggle reality with the hand-held life they led at Harvard. You're in charge of managing those people, and they respect that what they do is demanding and that no one but you is willing to give them the opportunity to do real work in law, but goddamn it, when one of those people walks in here and tells you that it is not physically possible for them to meet the demands of the tasks assigned them," she was almost shrieking, "You do not threaten them with their job and tell them to deal with it."

Lewis looked to Harvey and Jessica for help but Jessica just relaxed into her seat and raised her eyebrows at him, indicating he was on his own and she was watching.

Meanwhile, Harvey had been studying this stranger carefully. Her hair was a mix of brown and red, almost reaching her elbows and probably very good at hiding the shaved side of her head when she wasn't harassed by Lewis Litt. From where Harvey leaned on the window sill she was sporting unsquashed cleavage in a plain enough ivory t-shirt beneath a light grey jacket. It wasn't a suit but it was smart and flowed with extra material at the front, no buttons. Her pin skirt reached just above her knees, looking almost sailor authoritative with three buttons in line with each of her hips. It was a deep blue-green and made her perfect pale legs look paler as they made their way down into her plain black, scuffed high heels.

"What do you want me to do, Lauren?" Lewis asked.

"Read the charges, review the workload you gave Mis McGaulley, do what you should have done in the first place and call and apologise. And then just for my benefit that I can defend you against your 'underlings' as you like to put it to me, you'll write a short essay on how you should have addressed the situation; it had better say you should have listened, said to Miss McGaulley that you understood her enquiry, then you would have reviewed the case load and how you would have resolved the issue if there really was one. Which in this case their was - even a layman like me can see that."

Lewis nodded resentfully.

She turned to leave without looking at Harvey or Jessica but managed to say as she exited,

"Apologies for the interruption Miss Pearson."

"Miss Toni," Jessica said softly making Lauren stop and turn her head to Jessica, "New shoes tomorrow please."

Harvey watched her through the glass partition wall as she strode away. Without the hair in her face, piercings glinted from the centre of her lip, her nose, and two steel tunnels pried open the lobes of her ear.

"Who was that?"

"Miss Lauren Toni." Lewis said, staring at Jessica.

"I hired her after the suicide." Jessica explained.

"There was a suicide?" Harvey questioned. She stared at him flatly, unsurprised but disappointed by his lack of attention to the firm.

"It was a condition of keeping the flow of Harvard students - Lewis isn't a bad boss but clearly the school won't answer for failing its pupils in life skills."

Harvey scoffed.

"I know, right." Lewis said, clearly frustrated with the whole idea.

"Back to business." Jessica began and the meeting resumed as though Lauren never happened.

Harvey was busy working in his office and had been staring at his laptop screen for so long he could feel his eyes beginning to cross. He slapped it shut and stretched in his chair, looking through the glass partitions to the inside of the building. Lauren was at the desk speaking to Donna. When she was done she patted t desk, smiled at Donna as Donna stood and walked away. She didn't look inside the office as she walked by and Donna was stood in front of Harvey's desk by the time the woman was out of eyeshot.

"Yeah?"

"That's the new Junior Associate's Wellbeing Officer."

"I know. What does she want?"

"She wants to discuss Mike -"

"Why me? Lewis is -"

"With both of us."

Harvey looked to Donna significantly. "Do you think she?"

"I think she's smarter than people here give her credit for."

He sighed before deciding, "We have nothing to worry about."

Donna seemed reassured and left Harvey to work. He turned in his chair to his window and tried to think why on earth she would need both Donna and Harvey in a room.

"So, tell me about Michael."

"It's Mike." Harvey insisted from his desk, agitated by the calmness of the woman - what did she know that he didn't?

"You and Mike have a special relationship."

"Yes." said Donna as Harvey said "No."

Lauren smiled and closed over her notebook.

"Mike never went to Harvard and he's only here because he actually does the job and because you will leave if he is forced to leave." She looked between Donna and Harvey's guarded faces, "I'm not going to be illusive here; Jessica Pearson let me in on the secret. There's why you should trust me. Also, I'm not here to quiz you about him for some maniacal purpose. I'm concerned for him. He refuses to speak to me and from what I've observed, telling him I know won't inspire his confidence in me. So I'm here to get to know the situation better and to try to get the people he works with to encourage him to let me do my job."

"Why are you concerned?" Donna asked before Harvey could.

"Because he won't talk to me. It might be because of this secret it might be because he's busy working or it could be something else. It's my job to be nosy and the prospect of it being something else bothers me."

"What is it that you do exactly?" Harvey asked. She inhaled deeply through her pierced nose as though she had been asked that far too many times in recent weeks.

"I coach people through time management and work-life balancing. Right now I'm working with the Junior associates alone but I'm aiming to cover the entirety of the firm eventually."

"That's a big aspiration."

"Suicide rates among lawyers and bankers is high -"

"And how is a tattooed pierced freak like you going to help that?"

She smiled at Harvey while Donna tried to mask her shock; his insult was unnecessary.

"If you want to know my life story we're going to need a lot longer than a half an hour to cover it. Ask HR for my file if you're so interested but don't stop me doing my job. I want to see Mike Ross in my office in the next 10 working days."

She got out of her chair and left.

Harvey looked to Donna who was watching her go.

"Are you as curious as I am?" she asked him.

"No."

She scoffed and left his office.

Harvey had forgotten about the meeting with Lauren until he found a thick file on his desk with her name on it. He walked to Donna's desk.

"What's this?"

"Read it."

"I have more pressing things to do."

"Harvey," she looked at him significantly, "Read it."

Harvey sat back down in front of Lauren at their table in the busy restaurant. He poured her a glass of red wine and she thanked him as she brought the wine glass to her lips. He placed the file in front of her. She peered at it, set down the glass and said,

"It still amazes me how thick it is."

"Your qualified." he said somberly.

"I am. Did that warrant a whole meal to tell me though?"

"That's all paper, I need to know that I can trust you."

"So you don't trust Jessica's judgement?"

"No, I do but I'm not someone who just takes another person's word that I can trust anybody. you're going to have to prove that to me."

She took a sip of the wine, holding Harvey's gaze, before saying, "Bring it on."

At Harvey's apartment, she tossed his tie aside, stepping out of her shoes as Harvey pried his feet from his. Their lips barely parted as he led her backwards through his apartment, undoing his buttons hastily while she pried open his belt and cast it from him.

Throughout the dinner Harvey pulled every trick he knew to get to play the 'man' and not the game but she was transparent and proud of it. She was comfortable and relaxed no matter how he pressured her, she only faltered when he said,

"You're beautiful."

She smirked, a defensive maneuver she used to buy herself time before she would respond to a question.

"Time for beer." she decided, rising and leaving the restaurant. Harvey called for the cheque and wondered if she would be waiting outside for him. She was in a nearby bar, waiting for him at that door and called his name before she entered. He followed. Here she was easily at home, drinking half pints of lager and winding up the staff and surrounding patrons with fervour. It was easy to get lost in the drink and banter and soon his guard was abolished as well. That's when it started. The significant eye contact, the brushing hair from her face and the placing a hand anywhere on the other at any time. It was obvious for the onlookers to see that the time they had spent together had grown into attraction and it took a chant of 'kiss, kiss, kiss...' for Harvey to pin her to the bar and do as he was asked. Both had seen it as fun and games until a little showmanship for the sake of a good time turned into an understanding: this was more than showmanship.

They finished their drinks. Harvey haled a cab. The elevator doors shut on them and they were alone. This time she pinned him into a kiss.

Naked, sweating, without switching any lights off, Harvey held onto the headboard of his bed and thrust upwards. He was getting closer to the edge and he gave up keeping his cool and not making animalistic sounds. He sighed and grunted with the effort to keep going, his thighs burned and the sound of her voice as it escaped her made his spine tremble. She balanced on the bed carefully, her legs around Harvey but her feet planted firmly on the mattress as she held onto his shoulders. At last she couldn't to any more for their position and tried not to go limp as an orgasm tightened every muscle in her body, she cried out his name and he was so close to finality but he couldn't hold her up this way much longer. He adjusted so one arm held her close to him and one knee was on the mattress. In this position he pulsed his hips but also pulled her frame down to him and she moaned so close to his ear that it wasn't long before he had to slow and his own moan escaped him. They sank down onto the sheets, slick with sweat and struggling to regain a steady breathing pattern.

"You slept with her." Jessica started as she walked into Harvey's office. It had been two days since his dinner with Lauren and it threw him to hear Jessica know so.

Donna's eyebrows shot up and Harvey sighed. How did he turn off the damn intercom?

"What gave you that impression."

"You reserve a certain look for people you sleep with Harvey and she got it when you left the elevator this morning."

"That's the basis for your theory."

Jessica held his gaze until he caved.

"What's it to you?"

"We don't have relationships in this firm."

"Fine, it wont happen again." he said unconvincingly.

"Are you hearing me, Harvey?"

"What is the big deal? We don't even work together."

"The big deal is she knows about Mike and I trusted you not to screw that up."

"Who says I will screw that up?" Harvey demanded, standing now, facing off his boss.

"When you break her stupid heart: she doesn't know you. Fix it, Harvey."

With that Jessica took her leave and Donna promptly entered.

"Harvey Specter, she is not your type, how did that happen?"

"I have a type?"

"And she is not it."

"Thanks Donna."

"So what was she like?"

Harvey looked significantly at Donna. "Get back to work."

"Where is your sense of -"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, I'm going I'm going."

"Hey Harvey," Mike started as Harvey walked by his cubicle.

"Not now Mike."

This was strange, Harvey didn't come to the bullpen unless he wanted Mike. Mike followed Harvey as he walked right into Lauren's office.

"What is this?" Harvey demanded.

"Elaborate?"

"You and me, what is it?"

She leaned back in her chair, "What do you want it to be?

"I'm asking you."

She smirked and leaned back into her work. "It was a one night stand."

"And nothing more."

"You tell me."

Harvey put his hand on the door and quickly said, "I'll see you after work tomorrow. Wear something I can rip off."

With that Harvey left and minutes later Mike walked in on a still smiling Wellbeing Officer.

"I'm sorry, can I just ask what happened?"

"Well hot damn." Lauren remarked. Harvey got Mike Ross into her office.


End file.
